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diff --git a/docs/music/diag.md b/docs/music/diag.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c75ae8 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/music/diag.md @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +# Diag (Fedivision 2024) + +2024-05-19 + +If you're reading this, chances are you're listening to my Fedivision 2024 +entry, "Diag". Thank you! + +If not: + +<audio controls src="https://fkfd.me/static/Diag.mp3"></audio> + +## Inspiration / motivation + +### Music + +As you may know, I am musically illiterate. I didn't compose "Diag" with +a chord progression in mind. Heck, I don't even know what key this song is +in. I just pressed random keys until it worked. + +Most of the instruments were synthesized with Helm and Geonkick. For the +pitched instruments like the slightly wobbly piano, I played with presets +and turned knobs until I got a sound I like. Drums and SFX were made from +scratch. + +The working title of "Diag" is "fedivision scratch 2". It used to be +"fedivision scratch 1" but Ardour crashed around the time I finished my +instrumental track and corrupted my file so I scavenged the session folder +and pieced it back together. It was around 50 midi files. + +I'd describe the song as pretty simple, 2 minutes and 14 seconds, common +time at 120 bpm, driven by a kick every beat. There isn't even a snare. +This is inspired by Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place". Turns out +you don't need a drum set to sound great. + +I had intended to make a super convoluted prog-rock-ish song with a dozen +tempo and time changes, but I never found the right sounds. Maybe next +year? + +### Lyrics + +After a sweaty ride downtown, the first line ("Pharmacy, neon lights…") +came to me in the shower. It has some Bill Wurtz vibes, which I find +poetic. For the rest of the lyrics I chose a few things that I saw that +day, plus some that I didn't because they sound cool. + +Among the things I saw was the encampment that the TAHRIR coalition set up +in protest of UMich's investment in defense companies that produce +genocide weapons. They've occupied the diag, and they're not leaving until +the university divests. Weeks prior, the principal condemned the +protesters for "disrupting" commencement activities. Same guy who refused +to divest. + +Sometimes you feel guilty just to be alive. I have to pay my tuition +despite all this evil shit; I have to travel by air (this year I flew five +times); I have to use plastics. Last semester I took a course on +sustainable engineering, and it made it worse. + +Now that I've lost hope in corporations, governments, and whoever signed +the Paris Agreement, there's not much I can do. I could become a vegan, +never fly again, and bring my own cup, but it's like bailing a boat with +a bamboo basket. You can bet your ass I'm not the one responsible for the +mess. Best I can do is to survive, and not make it worse, and probably +teach my children to do the same. + +## Production + +All the work was done in Ardour, except de-noising the vocals, which was +done with sox. + +I sampled "B_MIN01_EU_FN_BEN01_104.wav" from [the CatMeows +dataset](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67835-7_20) that I wisely +downloaded three years ago. + +## Tools used + +### Software + +- [Ardour](https://ardour.org): composition, recording, production +- [Helm](https://tytel.org/helm/) (hands down the prettiest plugin I've + ever seen) +- [Geonkick](https://geonkick.org/index.html) +- [SoX](https://sourceforge.net/projects/sox/): de-noising +- [Krita](https://krita.org/): album cover + +### Hardware + +- Interface: Behringer UMC22 +- Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M20x +- Keyboard: AKAI MPK mini play +- Mic: Shure PGA48 +- Tablet: Wacom CTH-490 + +## Lyrics + +[Verse 1] +Pharmacy, neon lights, red cross, big signs +Corner store, overpass and lines +Motorbike, car horn, bus stop +Plastic wrap, tip jar, pesticide + +Chewing gum, bubble tea, take out dine in +Stencil spray, red blue green tape +I believe you're not to blame +I believe you're not to + +[Verse 2] +The only place in the world that I don't hate +Is my bed when my clock strikes eight +Past ten, gimme two more, might check again +Another day goes to waste, I don't care + +Bring it back, I want to be entertained +Just to laugh at the feline impulse to be constrained +Four walls, plus two, take one, that's a well +For us to live in as pennies fell + +(You can blame me for everything +But you know what you did) + +[Repeat Verse 1] + + diff --git a/docs/music/img/diag/cover.png b/docs/music/img/diag/cover.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3828387 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/music/img/diag/cover.png diff --git a/docs/music/index.md b/docs/music/index.md index 58cddb2..6d154a9 100644 --- a/docs/music/index.md +++ b/docs/music/index.md @@ -72,6 +72,14 @@ condition](img/index/squier.jpg) Here is a list of music I made, most recent first. +### [Diag](diag.md) + + + +My entry to [Fedivision 2024](https://fedivision.party/) representing the +Sacred Municipality of Deez Nuts. + ### [This Song Will Uncure Your Depression](uncure-your-depression.md) 